On Thursday, The Federal Government stated that the Second Niger Bridge (now named Muhammadu Buhari Bridge) and the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway would be completed before the end of 2022.
Mr. Babatunde Fashola, The Minister of Works and Housing, mentioned this during a special ministerial briefing organized by the Presidential Communications Team, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He also explained that the initial February completion date projection for the Second Niger Bridge failed due to several factors such as the COVID-19 lockdown, #EndSARS protests, and the sit-at-home orders by the Indigenous People of Biafra which delayed works on the Anambra side of the bridge.
He said:
“The Lagos-Ibadan Expressway will be delivered this year, subject to how we navigate the pricing issues. Second Niger Bridge also this year, while the main carriageway of Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano Expressway is scheduled for completion by the second quarter of 2023 before the President leaves office at the end of his tenure.
“On the Second Niger Bridge, one of the challenges we are facing on the Anambra side of the project is the stay-at-home order on Mondays and every day we don’t work, there is time lost.
“On the second Niger Bridge, we are going to shut down the power supply from one of the power plants for maintenance. On Abuja-Kano road, we have to relocate transmission lines; we have to move people who have set up markets along the roads and so on.
“So, these are some of the challenges we are facing and then there are compensation issues and we are working with Governors, who control land in their states to help us overcome these local issues,”
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